Koscielny insists Arsenal must “fight” to get out of “bad period”

Arsenal defender Lauren Koscielny has insisted his side must “fight” their way out of what he described as a “bad period” for the club.

The Gunners succumbed to their third defeat in the space of a week on Sunday when they were beaten 2-1 by Premier League new boys Brighton.

The defeat at The Amex Stadium capped off what was a miserable seven days for the Gunners, after they lost 3-0 to Manchester City in the Carabao Cup final last Sunday, before losing again by the same scoreline to Pep Guardiola’s side in the league only four days later.

And Koscielny, who started all three of those games for Arsene Wenger’s side, says he and his team-mates must stick together during a tough time in North London.

“We know we’re in a bad situation, a bad period,” he said. “We tried but nothing is with us. We tried to fight [at the Amex Stadium] and play football but you could see the confidence is very down.

“It will come back slowly. It is a bad period but we need everyone at this club – players, staff and fans – to be together and to fight to stay the highest we can.

“It is very difficult but football is like this. Now you focus on the next game, to prepare well. You need to put your head down and work.”

Arsenal currently now sit sixth in the Premier League table, and 13 points behind fourth placed.

45 points at this point in a Premier League season is the club’s worst for almost two decades, and Koscielny admits that their poor form means making the top four is now going to be a huge challenge.

“It will be very hard to finish in the top four. We’ve had a bad period and have not had the results we wanted. We lost our confidence a little bit and on the pitch we didn’t have the confidence we need to push ourselves more and to play well with the ball.

“We miss a lot of passes but we need to stay together, to fight together. We need to win to have more freedom on the pitch and we need to stay together. It is important to have everyone behind us.”